iron cautions part 2

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IRON OVERLOAD: NO WAY OUT

As we all know, too much of a good thing can be detrimental. There are

several reasons. The fact is that once iron enters the body, it has no way

out. Most of it is recycled, not excreted or otherwise consumed. Except

during growth stages, pregnancy, menstruation, or another cause of blood loss,

we eliminate only a minute amount, principally through urine, sweat, certain

illnesses, and the turnover of skin cells.

Here's the second catch. You may remember from your high school chemistry

class that iron (like copper) converts readily between the ferrous (with two

electrons) and ferric (three electrons) forms. This makes it a player in

oxidation-reduction reactions, useful for transmitting oxygen via our red

blood cells, but also capable of acting like a free radical and oxidizing

tissues, thereby damaging them.

This means whatever amount of the mineral that isn't affixed to the

hemoglobin in our blood or to other proteins for other uses roams around in

the body as unbound " free iron " and in vulnerable to the rust-like process of

free radical oxidation. Once transformed into free radicals themselves,

oxidized iron molecules go on to similarly damage whatever other tissue cells

they touch. Finnish heart researcher Jukka Salonen, M.D., blew open the

medical profession's understanding of cardiology by revealing the true impact

of cholesterol and iron on hardening of the arteries. His research

established that LDL cholesterol becomes an artery-blocking danger only when

it oxidizes and that men with high a concentration of iron (or copper) in

their bodies are at a particularly grave risk.

Thus it turns out that iron, not estrogen, explains the low risk of

coronary heart disease among women in their childbearing years and why the

threat magnifies after menopause or a hysterectomy. The compelling evidence

is that even when the ovaries are not removed after a simple hysterectomy and

continue to produce estrogen, the woman's heart disease risk begins to

escalate-very similarly to those women whose ovaries were removed.

Menstruation ensures that excess iron is excreted, not left to become an

oxidizing menace. The regular blood loss keeps a woman's overall iron level

low, if not deficient. Estrogen contributes to cardiovascular protection

mainly to the extent that it enables ovulation and a monthly period. This

fact alone undermines one of the usual rationalizations for hormone

replacement therapy.

Excess iron is implicated in other diseases, too. It could accumulate to a

toxic extent in our organs and tissues, including the joints, the liver, the

gonads, and the heart. It could feed the growth of harmful bacteria and

malignant tumor cells, as well as stimulate additional cancer-promoting free

radical activity. One of the reasons that fiber protects us from colon cancer

could be that it binds to iron, which prevents the mineral from sparking

oxidation damage. By burning off excess iron, exercise may work in a similar

way. Remember, though, that a lack of the mineral can also lead to cancer.

As I memtioned, maintaining an optimal balance is tricky.

High amounts of iron have been found in the brains of people afficted with

Parkinson's disease, and it could disrupt the central nervous system enough to

aggravate, if not cause, mental disorders. When seven psychiatric patients in

one small study were treated for excess iron, their disturbed behavior

patterns diminished significantly. In the months following treatment, their

symptoms did not return.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If both low and high levels of iron can be bad, then which is worse? Well,

by the time you've reached your seventies the answer is high iron is better,

according to a 1997 U.S. government survey of nearly four thousand seniors.

Men and women with the highest serum level had 38 percent and 28 percent lower

all-cause death rates, respectively.

GOOD IRON AND BAD IRON

Believe it or not, our bodies were designed to circumvent the iron dilemma

entirely. Orthodox medicine and popular dietary practices, though, seem

designed to circumvent nature. Two forms of iron exist. Knowing which to use

and where each is found is fundamental to protecting your body from the

mineral's potential harm. The two kinds are;

1. Heme iron. The natural, organic, biologically available form cannot build

up to excess and is not vulnerable to free radical oxidation. Only 2 mg of

heme iron, which comes from red meat, chicken, and fish, can be absorbed by

the body during any single meal, so no surplus accumulates.

2 Non-heme iron. This synthetic, inorganic form is the kind we need to

avoid, yet it's the predominant type found in most iron supplements and

fortify foods, including those made with " enriched " flour. It usually appears

on labels as ferrous gluconate, ferrous sulfate, or ferrous fumarate. The

body can absorb as much as 20 mg of non-heme iron at any one time, possibly

leading to a higher level of accumulation that would, in turn, increase the

heart disease and cancer risk.

In Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, food processors

are forbidden to add iron to their flours. As Swedish research confirms that

iron-fortified flour can more than triple the incidence of primary liver

cancer and multiply by more that ten times the incidence of hemochromatosis,

in which the intestines absorb more iron than the body needs. But ironically

enough, inorganic iron-fortified flour is celebrated by the U.S. government's

food pyramid, which demands we consume at least six servings of it daily.

end of part two

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